“This is a computer! An Amstrad 1512 with 640K of RAM and 2 DS floppy drives!”

Welcome to my All-Singing All-Dancing Hask Riddle #2.

Catty reckoned my riddles were wasted on dumb-bum rugby players in tactical planning sessions and reckoned I ought to have a lash at Mastermind instead. Couldn’t find that particular title in my Xbox games library, maybe Manu’s got it in his.

Mvml. Bit out of the blue that. Still opening on the first day against fresh new ball bowlers is just about the hardest job in the game. Chef has a spectacular record all things considered. Like the cut of comptons jib I must say. 280 – 6 end of today is my prediction

Trotts average of nigh on 50 is really very impressive isn’t it? He’ll never go down in history as a great but with Bell, Peiterson and prior in the middle order would we really swap him for any other number 3 around? I don’t think so, great pro.

What do you make of Root MVML? I like the way they’re bringing him on. Looks about 15 and ravelling the world getting paid to play cricket in the sunshine with his mates…… I hate him….

suavo – I really hope it doesn’t deaden in the same way as the last one. Makes for a pretty poor game. If the wicket gets steadily more easy to bat on you have to see something pretty special to see a result. if its at its best days 2 and 3 you have the perfect test match where you get an equal chance to make the most of the hand the toss deals you. As fun as it was, you don’t want number 10s to be making comfortable 50s on day 5.

This looks like t’ll be a belter by tea today. hope it breaks up a bit day 4

Big fan of Trott but has fallen away from his stellar start in Test cricket when he was scoring big hundreds for fun. Tremendous temperament combined with a little bit of fight to him.

Root looks to have all the shots, haven’t seen enough of him to make a definitive statement. Still think we need a proper batting allrounder who can bowl 10 overs or so a day. I think Bairstow is a good prospect also, but probably as a long-term replacement for Matt Prior.

I think the last Test was a draw because England batted so poorly in the first innings. Much easier to score 400 when the opposition has just scored 160. It will be interesting to see what happens if England make a big 1st innings score.

Also re number 3s to be fair I would probably take Hashim Amla over Trott. Not Phil Hughes though.

Quite, but add in a couple of back pages read at random then I could pop in a quip about ROS, say. I imagine from experience in these matters that there will have been a theme around Kidney (Larry’s sanguinuity being tested here), endless discussions about the Lions (DCC continuing to claim that he wants the Eng players left at home to protect them from the tenacles of Gatland here), so I could hazard a comment of the ‘Ben Morgan nailed on if only he could last more than 50mins PS shame we can’t pick Parissamoles’ variety.

Finally slip in a ‘my dedication is so great that I’m now halfway through today’s comments’ note and the deception is complete…

(not that I am suggesting that Karl was not telling the truth of course, merely how it could be accomplished)

Big fan of Trott but has fallen away from his stellar start in Test cricket when he was scoring big hundreds for fun.

Well, it was always going to happen, there aren’t too many players in history who have career averages that high. A bit like Hussey’s average dropped down to around 50 after having a ridiculous average for the first part of his international career.

yeah ok, maybe amla. Id open with him were hi available to us though. Something comforting about trott at 3 and I think his careful approach gets him an unfair press sometimes, he has a really stylish technique at time. The cover drive is almost Vaughn-like.

What I like about root is he looks like a Thorpe like player able to nudge a single off a decent ball without looking in trouble, we’ll see

Phil Hughes…..with an eye like that and that striking power if he doesn’t have a decent test career eventually it’ll either because he I mentally equipped for test cricket or he’s been coached awfully. doesn’t matter if you only have 3 or 4 shots when theyre that effective, you just play to your strengths.. see trescothick for eg

FD – They lost their nerve like 90’s England selectors after he toured England as a youngster and got a bit found out by flintoff and co. It’s an occupational hazard for batsman of his ilk that when they don’t succeed they’ve usually gotten out playing what looks like an outlandish stroke, when in reality that’s what got them picked in the first place.

I guess the opposite scenario is this Compton fella for England who is only now finding a bit of form after a good few chances. His failures previously haven’t stuck out like a sore thumb coz he;s got out playing tentative defensive strokes rather than massive swipes that make you look a fool. Hughes just needs to sort a trigger movement that keeps him balanced and learn to pick a length to leave early in his innings, regardless of how wide it is. Loads of throw downs and electric shock therapy should do it.

I am available as a batting coach BTW should CA like to see a copy of my CV. FD I assume you have the relevant contacts? As a useful reference my 2 year old already has a good idea where his off chair leg is and puts the loose delivery confidently to the straight fireplace boundary all along the oak flooring.

I was a little put out by some of the replies I got questioning my appraisal of the ENG v WAL game, when in all honesty I thought it was a pretty good stab at predicting the result. I do get it right most of the time you know.

No Hibbard in the 23, instead Rees who doesn’t start for the Scarlets in! Thought Bevington would get the call on form, not in 23! Coombs, you heard it here first! Warburton better find his Mojo!

It’s a team that Howley & Co think, cries out DOMINATION, based on how well they’re stats have been doing in the training camp. Then bring on more flair for when the game gets more broken up, to finish off the job.

Unfortunately Rob, the game is going to be too far out of Wales’ reach, I see Ireland getting a tidy lead of about 18pts and Wales will fall short by about 3-7pts after an heroic comeback.

Result:
Saturday 2nd February 2013;
Wales 22-30 Ireland
Pretty much as the game went really.

Obviously I went for Wales to win the next 3 away games including the tough one in Paris. When most people BTL after the first Welsh match were blathering on about Wales being prime candidates for being wooden spoon contenders. So even if I’ve read the England game completely wrong (I’m not a stats-man really, don’t like to get bogged down in minutiae, when I predict outcomes. I have more of an organic approach) I have still selected 4/5 of the Welsh results including one loss to Ireland with reasonably close score predictions.

i’ve been holding off posting for the last hour in case a new blog goes up. Just can’t keep up with you lot, I haven’t even tried to read more than a few pages from yesterday.

Would some kind person care to post a synopsis of yesterday for me please? I’m off in the car for a couple of hours but will get a 15 min break for breakfast when I reach Norwich, so it would be good to get an overview then.

Also Would a kind admin repost this for me if you put anew blog up in the meantime?

Yesterday you missed round 3897 of the Quade Cooper debate so you missed nothing. There was northerner chat amongst the BTL northerners so nothing missed there either. There was some Argentinian Pope chatter last night. All up, a typical day and night BTL.